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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Donating milk

1 reply

PootleTheFlump · 13/12/2009 17:44

I read something in "The Donor" magazine about milk donation, and then there was a request from our local hospital in the latest NCT newsletter. Has anyone done this and was it fairly easy to do? I have only BF for a few weeks atm but it is something I would definitely consider once I have got myself a bit more sorted. Would love to hear of any personal experiences, particularly whether it adversley affected your own BFing or what the common pitfalls are (so I can be realistic and prepared if I decide to go ahead), thanks

OP posts:
Taramuddle · 13/12/2009 22:53

I donated milk to my local hospital & it had no impact on ds whatsoever. It still comes down to the supply & demand thing so the more you feed/pump the more milk you make.

I used to pump in the morning from the other breast when I fed ds & then in the evening again after I had put ds down.

I was given bottles by the midwives & froze the milk immediately ( you just add whatever you collect until the bottle is full & then start a new one). The midwife came & collected the frozen milk & brought me new empties to fill.

You have to have a blood test initially which covers you for 3 months donating which checks you for various diseases. If you take some meds you can't donate, also not drink more than 2 units of alcohol regularly & no more than 5 cups of caffeinated tea/coffee a day.

I was worried that I might not be able to express enough to make it worth their while ( the midwives in my area run the scheme in their free time). However, they reassured me that even an ounce a day is fine & actually I used to donate about 5 ounces a day. Premature babies may only take 5ml per feed so a little goes a long way!

In my experience the longer I did it the more I had to express. The only pain was the washing & sterilising of the pump, but that wasn't really a biggy.

You can only donate up until your baby is 6 months old as then your milk is really quite different from what a premature baby needs.

I'm glad I did it & it made me feel good to think that I might have helped some babies survive.

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